On a recent trip to Bloemfontein, I was struck by the city’s extraordinary people. From the outstanding physiotherapists and doctors to the warm, broad smiles of the excellent service staff everywhere – they are truly some of the best people in the world. It would have been easy to leave thinking Bloemfontein is a dreary place – a bit run down and especially bleak in the winter.
Very honestly, I probably approached it with that in mind – with an inborn bias toward negativity.
We all have such biases; surprisingly, there is even an evolutionary reason for them. In ancient times, our ancestors struggled daily to survive like animals in the wild. As a result, we adapted, constantly surveying our environment for risks. Our focus on mitigating risk created skewed attention on negative information in our environment. It’s what we now call a negativity bias.
Even today, this behavioural trait is present. It means that negative events will have a more pronounced impact on our psyche than positive events. We feel pain more intensely than pleasure.
This phenomenon is played out fantastically in digital media. Because we tend to focus on and screen our environment for negative information, digital media algorithms feed us negative content. We’re pre-disposed to do this - we interact more with this kind of content, and in turn, we activate the algorithms which then send us even more of the same content. The outcome of this chain of events is that the information we process to make decisions is already negatively skewed.
This can have a profound impact on our decision-making as often, we place too much emphasis on a decision’s potential costs or negative outcomes. And this plays out across every sphere of our lives: in our personal lives, we can stagnate; for businesses, stagnation can mean lost opportunities for growth, and even decline or default; it can prevent society from innovating and changing to meet the needs of ordinary people.
As South Africans, we can easily be overcome by the negative news – there is plenty of very real, negative news. The daily reminders of such bad news can prevent us from seeing opportunities, and even noticing positive trends.
Our recent elections may be one such event. Although the cooperation of parties with different constituencies in the new government will be tricky to manage (see how I’m downplaying potential positive developments), we should reflect on the potential positive outcomes. Broadly, the new government is in support of constitutionalism, which should be celebrated. We should recognise that the rhetoric has changed to cooperation and a focus on growth through structural reforms. Much needs to be done, and we can be sceptical, but we should not miss the opportunities that may arise from the positive developments.
The impact of the negativity bias on our money is well-researched too. To benefit from the growth of financial markets, a positive disposition and attitude to risk is necessary. Yes, there will be tough times in markets, but history has shown that the good times more than make up for it. Over the long term, there are rewards for the risks we take in our investments, careers, and personal financial decisions.
To curb this bias, we must actively focus on seeking and interacting with positive events and appreciating those experiences to create positive memories. We must be more present to pleasant experiences. We must also reflect more on good times.
We constantly need to remind ourselves of the battle with our brains’ search for negativity. Searching for the positive, is critical for a balanced perspective, and a good life.
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Kind regards,
Sunél